Speech will live in infamy

After Franklin Roosevelt got the news about the Dec. 7, 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, he began working on a speech to a joint session of Congress.

After Franklin Roosevelt got the news about the Dec. 7, 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, he began working on a speech to a joint session of Congress.

The work continued through that Sunday even as reports came in from Hawaii and fears rose about possible Japanese attacks elsewhere, including on the West Coast.

The president consulted his closest advisors about the speech, reading portions as he developed his ideas. They didn't like what they heard. They wanted an indictment, a point-by-point declaration of Japanese wrongs.

Roosevelt resisted. Thomas Jefferson had issued such an indictment in the Declaration of Independence. In fact, it makes up most of the document. It also is largely forgotten. What we remember about the Declaration is Jefferson's ringing words about self-evident truths and the equality of all men.

Roosevelt's advisors thought what he proposed was too short and too vague for such a momentous occasion. In the end, Roosevelt sent his advisors on their way telling them he would consider their suggestions. He didn't.

At noon the next day, Roosevelt stood before Congress and delivered his 521-word, six-and-a-half-minute speech. He didn't give casualty figures or spell out the damage the attack had inflicted. He did tell the nation "our people, our territory and our interests are in grave danger."

Roosevelt's "Day of Infamy" speech was aimed at the gut not the head. The president sought to rally the nation for the incredibly difficult and costly struggle ahead.

Remembering the struggle that began 71 years ago today is the least we owe those who sacrificed through those perilous years.